Blog: Notes on my Odyssey | Presbyterians on the Frontier | Parrish W. Jones, Ph.D.http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/index.html
enFri, 26 Feb 2016 10:43:55 -0500http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssSandvox 2.10.4Tijuanahttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/tijuana.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>I left Tucson early in the morning in cool weather with the expectation that by the time I got to Yuma it would be hot. Not so! In fact, I was plenty cool all day and stopped as I was assending the mountains on the California border and added clothing. Just after getting into California, I took a detour I planned based on a route I found on Motorcycle Rides. It took me through some farmland, desert and more desert, the Ocotillo Recreation Area where four wheelers and off road motorcycles are permitted to ride the desert. For the longest time, I could not figure out where the name came from because there were no Occotillo Plants in the desert. Then suddenly there was a whole grove of them for many acres.
</p><p>I crossed a mountain pass to enter a fairly green and beautiful valley and then back south toward I-8 on California S-2. It's neat drive and if you ever want to find the neatest routes try out Motorcycle Rides which has an incredible online mapping system. Every state is represented.
</p><p>I got to the home of Lee and Juanita Van Hamm who were kind enough to take in a stranger. I had gotten their contact info from Presbyterian PEace Fellowship and e-mailed them with hopes they'd take me in. They did and were wonderful hosts. We have much in common. Lee and Juanita read a book written by friends of mine and retired mission workers in Central America, Gloria and Ross Kinsler, named "Jubillee Economics". Their group in Chicago decided to form and organization for reflecting on and trying to build their lives around the ideas of Jubilee Economics. They were also very interested in my project and knew a few of my contacts.
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Fri, 08 Jun 2012 23:46:07 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/tijuana.htmlNogaleshttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/nogales.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>I drove the scenic route from Agua Prieta to Nogales. Actually, there are only a few ways of getting between the two cities. All are scenic and the Border Patrol has become a part of the scenery. When you go through their check points, it is clear being an anglo gives one privilege.
</p><p>I arrived in Nogales, AZ at the office only a few minutes late and met up with Dr. Jorge Pasos. Dr. Pazos was first a medical doctor. Kimberly met him in 1992 when she was a Young Adult Volunteer with Pueblos Hermanos in Tijuana. Since then he earned a seminary degree and also became a pastor moving to Hermosillo. When Compañeros en Misión (originally "Nogallios" pronounced No-ga-yee-os with long "o's") was founded, Dr. Pasos became the Mexican coordinator.
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<div class="figure-content caption"><p>Church in Caborca and the Pastor Julio Zunun</p></div>
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</div><p>I had learned a couple of days earlier that his daughter-in-law was in jeopardy of losing her baby and asked about her. Turns out she has a cyst on her kidney and the infection is subsiding and further treatment may not be necessary. He took me with him to see her and to do a few other things in the city.
</p><p>Nogales, AZ has bout 20,000 residents while Nogales, Sonora, MX has 2.5 million. It has chenged markedly from the time I last saw it, nearly ten years ago. As with all of Mexico, the infrastructure is improved and much development—new shopping centers and housing developments the most obvious. In the past alomost all houses were being self-built out of whatever folks could find. Today, companies are building and the people buying. The government gurantees the loans and even has a program for payment of the loans which are withheld from paychecks.
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Sun, 03 Jun 2012 21:53:09 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/nogales.htmlSanta Fe to Agua Prietahttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/santa-fe-to-agua-prieta.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>I took a detour of sorts to Santa Fe for a few days. Plans were to leave Juarez for Phoenix on May 12 and fly on the 13th to North Carolina to attend a celebration of Mission with Mexico at Montreat. The Celebration was canceled, so I went to Santa Fe where I stayed with Erik Mason, an elder at Westminster PC and a friend from Presbyterian Peace Fellowship and the Colombia Accompaniment Program. He has a magnificent guest house and offered magnificent hospitality. He quickly arranged for me to speak in Sunday School and friends I made in Colombia came from FPC to see and hear me. We had an engaging conversation about Presbyterian Border Ministry and the border in general. Then an incredible bilingual worship service.
</p><p>I used the spare time to do some collating and writing and reflecting. Also visited a few art galleries. Santa Fe, I'm sure you know, is close to Georgia O'Keefe's home within the present Presbyterian Conference Center at Ghost Ranch.
</p><p>I also was able to go to Las Vegas, NM to interview Randy Campbell who was the second co-coordinator of Compañeros en Misión at Noglaes and Hermosillo. It was good to see him again. For those of you from Redstone Presbytery, Randy was the room mate of Bruce Caddenhead in seminary. (Bruce is in photos to right playing with children in Nogales in 1999 or 2000).
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</div><p>My trip to Santa Fe was event-full. I left Juarez and stopped at the hospital in El Paso to visit and pray with my Juarez host famly who had welcomed a baby boy to their family on Thursday night. He was healthy and in my prayer I welcomed him as a new citizen of the U.S. Unfortunately, his father, Rosendo, could not be at his birth because as a teenager, he tried to cross without papers and got caught. He's now 40. He applied for a pardon and has been told he will get it but the bureaucracy ran too slowly.
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Wed, 23 May 2012 12:30:57 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/santa-fe-to-agua-prieta.htmlJuarez 2http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/juarez-2.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>In Juarez 1, I wrote about the poverty. The poverty in Juarez does not stop at the doorway of the manse. As John Nelson, pastor of University Presbyterian Church in El Paso, president of PBM and member of the binational committee of Pasos de Fe, told me, "A point of pain and concern is that my colleagues (the pastors) in Juarez are all poor."
</p><p>You may not notice it immediately because most have a church provided house, a car, televisions, and computers, however, it is hard to do ministry in any context without these tools. It comes home when you get close enough to learn that two of the most prominent pastors have cars that won't run and they cannot afford to spend $500 to repair them. Oddly, both cars broke down when I was to interview them. Am I bad luck or what?
</p><p>If you have a car sitting idol or nearly so, I'll arrange to get it here.
</p><p>These colleagues do not lack in zeal for their work. Only in Colombia have I witnessed pastors working under such adverse conditions to serve Jesus. Mercedes "Meche" Romo Castro is pastor of a church that requires his attention but agreed to become coordinator of Pasos de Fe at a very low salary, at his suggestion, to fulfill a commitment to ministry at the commnity center that was made years ago. He spends about 4 hours a day at the center working with the community and planning and working to develop the center.
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<div class="figure-content caption"><p>Pastor of Prince of Peace Church: Roberto Medina and Familt</p></div>
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</div><p>While there is much to do, the library is opperating and the computer lab is up and running. The center seeks to provide a place for the children to do their homework. The schools require that some homework be done on computers and many do not have computers. Internet is understood to be a doorway to the future for the children. The center will also provide services that are lacking for the multitudes of poor in Juarez. Meche's dreams are infectious and others are easily drawn to his dreams for the future. (If you have a computer or monitor that is less than 5 years old, I have a place for it.)
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Fri, 11 May 2012 09:24:11 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/juarez-2.htmlJuarez 1http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/juarez-1.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>Those of us who live in the U.S. think of Juarez as the center of violence in the world, yet I have been here four days and only seen policemen on motorcycles and, finally, yesterday an army patrol. I have also seen no signs of the violence, and still everyone here talks of the violence as of great concern for several reasons: 1. They know it has happened and is still happening. 2. Because of the violence, there is a vigilance that we would find uncommon. Constant scanning for indications of violence. 3. It is hurting the economy. 4. It hampers the work of the church by limiting activities in certain communities and at night. 5. Most fear traveling by bus or car on the highways.
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<div class="figure-content caption"><p>S-Mart is a common sight now and provides a grocery shopping experience unrivaled in the U.S.</p></div>
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</div><p>The contrast between a bustling city apparently going about its business like any thriving metropolis (pop. 1.5 million) and the undercurrent of anxiety is palpable. Then one notices other signs of a prosperous city: new hotels, large shopping centers, several thriving grocery chains, two quick stop chains, well kept, schools renovated or newly constructed parks, and so on and so forth.
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</div><p>Then one turns one's head and in the same neigborhoods are businesses in delapidated buildings, homes that need significant repair, streets that need paving, others that need to be repaved. Around the corner is abject poverty. In reality, most residents of Juarez are poor by U.S. standards. Some of the poverty is not much different than we would see in any U.S. city.
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Fri, 11 May 2012 08:59:48 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/juarez-1.htmlPiedras Negrashttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/piedras-negras.html
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</div><p>When Proyecto Amistad began, it was located in Piedras Negras a piece up river from Nuevo Laredo where originally there was a ministry called Laredos Unidos. In 2006 the two ministries were united into one. Yesterday (Wednesday, May 2) we visited Piedras Negras where we saw the buildings that once were the center of activity for Proyecto Amistad and we visited families who were involved with the ministry or aided by it.
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</div><p>In the early days of the ministry Jesse Gonzalez was the director of Amistad and the pastor of the mission in Piedras Negras. The project had health, children's, family, and technical education ministries that the people who flocked to the border needed to survive and perhaps find a way to earn a living. The factories did not provide enough work for all the people who came. Since most came from agricultural regions, few had skills for living in an urban industrial city. Amistad sought to provide for their needs and for their futures. In Nuevo Laredo, Laredo Unidos was doing similar things.
</p><p>The mission in Piedras Negras was astoundingly successful. The work of Jesse and mission volunteers from the U.S. the church developed strong and exciting programs. In Nuevo Laredo, new churches were founded but not with such astounding success, but with steady progress.
</p><p>Then things began to change after the turn of the century. The government began meeting more and more of the needs of the people. Corporations began paying for the health and pension plans of Mexico and schools were improving. The ministry could see that it needed to redirect its resources and the Presbytery was asking that Amistad do more to start new churches in other parts of Mexico.
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Thu, 03 May 2012 20:29:45 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/piedras-negras.htmlNuevo Laredo 2http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/nuevo-laredo-2.html
<div class="article-summary"><img src="http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/_Media/dsc_0110_med.jpeg" alt="Club Amistad 1" width="271" height="180" class="first narrow left graphic-container" /><p>Life in this part of Mexico seems quite peaceful, but under the surface not so much. Violence is a targeted affair, meaning that violent acts are not generally aimed at the general population but at other criminals or army. People in general tend to be caught in the cross fire. However, lately there have been attacks on churches of non-Catholic tradition. These are mostly robberies in which armed persons enter the church force people to surrender their money, jewelry and car keys and then leave. So far noboy has been physically assaulted.
</p><img src="http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/_Media/dsc_0128_med.jpeg" alt="Club Amistad 2" width="288" height="191" class="not-first-item narrow right graphic-container" /><p>Roberto Medina, Coordinator of Proyecto Amistad, thinks that the cartels are mostly Catholic and that is why non-Catholic churches are the targets. For those of us in the U.S. where the relations between Catholics and Non-Catholic Christians is fairly good this conflict seems odd, but in Mexico the history is quite different. Non-Catholics were not welcome in Mexico until 1872 period. Then the government changed the laws trying to transform Mexico into a secular democracy like its neighbor to the north. The next 140 years has seen a great deal of persecution of non-Catholic Christians. I've been in Mexico when Protestant Christians have been killed by supposedly Cahtolic gangs. (Not all non-Catholic traditions are Protestant. Methodism arose long after the Reformation so it is actually not Protestant as that term historical refers to the churches of the Reformation who protested agains the Roman Catholic Church.) Many businesses once refused to hire non-Catholics.
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Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:22:48 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/nuevo-laredo-2.htmlNuevo Laredo 1http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/nuevo-laredo-1.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>On Thursday I had two interviews. The first was with an layman in First Presbyteran Church, San Antonio, RIck Lane. Rick's family owned a large furniture company based in Alta Vista, VA. I think he is a hyper active Christian. His testimony is one providential happenstance after another. He moved to San Antonio because he wanted to get involved in helping Mexico and he knew the family would be getting out of the furniture business, a decision motivated by a study he had done once he completed his college education that said they had to reduce U.S. manufacturing and turn elsewhere to stay competitive. Given the corruption in Mexico and the nedd to pay bribes, the viability of a low margin business also operating in Mexico appeared ntenable. Eventually, Rick's family did not have to make a decision as the company was taken over in an unsolicited takeover bid.
</p><p>His mother, father and he were engaged in mission work already through a variety of Methodist and para-church mission efforts so when he married a Presbyterian, it was inevitable that his interest in mission in Mexico and Presbyterian Border Ministry would converge. It did when he met the former coordinator of Poryecto Amistad 5 or 6 years ago. When Chris and Roberto Medina shared with him their desire to find a curriculum for training parents and teachers to use the Bible to teach transformative values, Rick already had contacts. That led to the Amistad Schools in the Presbyterian Churches in the region in which Amistad is working.
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Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:36:41 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/nuevo-laredo-1.htmlSan Antoniohttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/san-antonio.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>This will not seem very exciting as the purpose of working here is to interview Micaela Reznick who has been serving as a Funds Development Director for PBM for 5 years and to research PBM archives. I've already found some important documents. The office is in Mission Presbyterian Church in San Antonio.
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</div><p>I'm staying with a Robert and Linda Armendariz west of the city. Robert's family has a long history in the Presbyterian Church in Texas. His father and uncle fled Mexico during the 1914 revolution. They found jobs working on a ranch. One day while they worked, they saw a tent being erected and curiosity led them to go see what the tent was about. The people invited them to a revival. That evening they went to the revival, were converted and went to school and became ministers. Robert's father served Mexican churches until he retired as did his brother.
</p><p>On Thursday I had two interviews. The first was with an elder in First Presbyteran Church, San Antonio, RIck Lane. Rick's family owned a large furniture company based in Alta Vista, VA. I think he is a hyper active Christian. His testimony is one providential happenstance after another. He moved to San Antonio because he wanted to get involved in helping Mexico and he knew the family would be getting out of the furniture business, a decision motivated by a study he had done once he completed his college education that said they had to reduce U.S. manufacturing and turn elsewhere to stay competitive. The family had no stomach for that.
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Wed, 25 Apr 2012 10:27:15 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/san-antonio.htmlNew Orleans 3http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/new-orleans-3.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>Sunday AM in the Big Easy is quiet. Of course, all night it was rowdy. I couldn't stay up late so I was up pretty early. I went out taking photos I'll post later of things I learned about on the walking tour. I worked my way over to a place I thought I wanted to eat breakfast only to find it closed. Same thing happened at supper. Bad luck.
</p><p>I got some great photos with good light.
</p><p>After breakfast I wandered a lot, looked for a sweatshirt without a hood. Couldn't find one. Can't wear a hooded anything under my motorcycle jacket.
</p><img src="http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/_Media/img_0120_med.jpeg" alt="IMG_0120" width="250" height="188" class="first narrow right graphic-container" /><p>I did visit the casino. Lost $3.00. Figured that was all Harrah's deserved from me. Anyway by 2:00 PM I was way behind the curve on drinking for the Big E so I walked over to river walk where I bought a beer and had a nice conversation with a neurologist from Colorado (big medical conventions going on).
</p><p>I walked around a bit more then to the restaurant where i wanted to get a Muffalleta sandwich developed in New Orleans by the Italians. I did get one just at another place. They are huge and out of sight good. They are even pretty (see Photo).
</p><p>I wandered around listening and enjoying the street performers. One group had a guitar, banjo, clarinet, washboard and two singer dancers playing jazz. They were outstanding in two ways: in the street and reall good music. At one point a wedding came down the street in parade fashion, a custom here, with police escort, band and bridal party. As they approached, the group I was listeing to joined in the music. Once the party had passed, the group reaaranged and went back to playing.
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Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:57:32 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/new-orleans-3.htmlNew Orleans 2http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/new-orleans-2.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>Woke up to rain. Looked at the weather map and it looked as if there was a tropicl storm circulating around NO. So it rained off and on all morning and into the afternoon. I bought a ticket for the Natchez steam ship tour which was fun. Met some interesting people: a group from Switzerland who spoke a "beet auv Eengleesh" (can't quite get the inflection and I'm not making fun I love hearing accents), and then I met a woman and her daughter from lower East Side of Manhattean who knew the area in which my friend Margaret McColgan lived from 1922 until she retired in 1970 and worked as one of the first professional early childhood educators as the community chaged from upper class white, to black, to jamaican, to haitian, back to Black then to miiddle class. Margaret taught me nore about children than I could have ever learned from a book. She died at 94.
</p><p>I then took a walking tour with a historian of the French Quarter. It was supposed to be a group, but was a group so it was more personal. He realized I was interested in architecture so he porpbably told me more of that than a group would have gotten. It was cloudy so not great for photography. It'll be windy today, but sunny so I'll take photos.
</p><p>It's odd who you meet and the interesting conversations you have. I can't quite get excited about the bar scene and strip clubs have no allure. So I went to Royal Street after having incredible stuffed shrimp at Deanies Seafood. I went through several galleries and met an older man who is a doctor from Paducah, KY. He was surprised I knew of it until I told him that my parents were from Lexington and just south of Cincinnati. (Kentucky is just south of Cincinnati). So we looked at art and talked a bit.
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Sun, 22 Apr 2012 07:35:56 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/new-orleans-2.htmlNew Orleans 1http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/new-orleans-1.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>Of course, in the Big Easy there are lots of ways to say Noleans, but it is all the same. Thru Priceline I was able to get a room in a very nice hotel right next to the French Quarter, from which I can see a lot that is going on.
</p><p>I arrived after 11 hours on the road at 5:00 PM Eastern at a Marriott that was the wrong one. Oddly, there are two on Canal Street one block apart on opposite sides. I thought my instructions said mine was on the right, but even now that I know where it is, I miss the sign. I only dscovered this error after unloading everything and getting to registration, so I had to reload everything, circle blocks because streets are almost all one way and traffic is horrendous at 5:00 in N.O. and by now it was nearly 5:00. Found my way to the J.W. Marriott entrance which is on a different street than the front of the hotel to learn I had to park at their sister hotel, the Sheraton one block back the wrong way. So I had to circle the block once more. So the comedy finally ended and I got checked in.
</p><p>Had a great meal just down Bourbon St. Walked the street for a few minutes until I realized I was too tired to do more and went to the room, napped for an hour, went down stairs to listen to an R&amp;B group. They were really good, but I was fading so I returned to the room and slept.
</p><p>Today, includes reading things I need to read or re-read to prepare for my interviews and some sightseeing. Tonight I'm looking forward to a Latin Jazz Band.
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Sat, 21 Apr 2012 08:36:14 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/new-orleans-1.htmlLeaving Homehttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/first-post.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>I am ready to go, almost. Classes are over, exams graded, grades submitted, and I'm packed as far as I can be.
</p><p>It's been great tohear from so many who read the article in the local paper about my trip and said they'd be watching for my progress. So here it begins.
</p><p>Friday, tomorrow, AM I will be leaving at 6 Am I hope. My first day I hope to make New Orleans to spend a few days in that historic city. All should go well. My motorcylce is tuned up and serviced. I have a new tire on the back, A friend who is an excellent welder made me a luggage rack for my suitcase. It's a bute.
</p><p>I appreciate my daughter, Celese and granddaughter, Savannah, who'll be staying with Mom for the two months. I also want to thank Deacon Cathy Upchurch fro dropping some meals by so Celese will not have to be chief cook also. Many have offered to lend a hand.
</p><p>I have a host of envious motorcyclists following me. Seems all motorcyclists dream of making such a trip. SO here I go.
</p><p>Pleas keep me in your prayers.
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Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:30:09 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/first-post.htmlMy Trip Planshttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/my-trip-plans.html
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Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:28:14 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/my-trip-plans.htmlA note on VISA's for crime victimshttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/a-note-on-visas-for-crime.html
<div class="article-summary"><p>I learned some important facts about our laws. I have been attending conferences on immigration for years now and either was brain dead or these things never got through to me. I've heard a lot of talk about VISA's but my interviews taught me these VISA's war available:
</p><p>1. Victims of domestic violence who are not legal residents but have been victimized by a citizen or legal resident of the U.S. The primary requirement is that the victim must be willing to press charges and testify agains the perpetrator.
</p><p>2. Victims of trafficking. The same is true, they must be able to demonstrate that they were brought against their will to the U.S. or that should they have come willingly that those who assisted the person in coming then placed them in bondage.
</p><p>3. Victims of crimes other than those two. Such persons must be important witnesses to the crime in question and testify.
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Fri, 11 Nov 2011 07:35:09 -0500http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/a-note-on-visas-for-crime.htmlWomen and Violence in Ciudad Juarezhttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/women-and-violence-in-ciuda.html
<div class="article-summary"><img src="http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/_Media/dsc_6554_med-2.jpeg" alt="DSC_6554" width="284" height="354" class="first narrow left graphic-container" /><p>Visiting El Paso, TX and Ciudad Jaurez, Chihuahua, MX is like visiting multiple personalities. El Paso, is indistinguishable from Juarez except for a border fence that keeps one from visiting a neighbor who lives just across the way or playing catch with new friends on the other side as we were doing when the Border Patrol drove up and said we couldn't. "Can't play ball with little boys?" I asked. "No, it's against policy to throw things across the fence." The other distinguishing characteristics are the ports of entry and an army of Border Patrol agents.
</p><p>However, there is another not so visible distinguishing characteristic. El Paso is one of the most peaceful cities in the U.S. It is located across the border from one of the most violent cities in the world. One wonders how that can be.
</p><p>I've been visiting the border for 20 years now. Most of my visits have been to Agua Prieta, Sonora, MX across the border from Douglas, AZ. While Agua Prieta has had its share of danger, it is peaceful compared to Juarez. Nogales where another of our Presbyterian Border Ministry sites, Compañeros en Misión, is located has also seen considerable violence as has Tijuana where our ministry, Pueblos Hermanos, is located. I've not visited the two most eastern of our sites and look forward to learning about them in the Spring.
</p><p>I have known for a long time that the violence, especially in Juarez, has been escalating. As you may know, Mexico is suffering tremendous violence that is spreading across the nation.
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Thu, 10 Nov 2011 18:57:31 -0500http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/women-and-violence-in-ciuda.htmlMutual Ministryhttp://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/mutual-ministry.html
<div class="article-summary"><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);">I was talking to a friend who happens to be a priest. I mentioned that I was planning to write a book about Presbyterian Border Ministry and its experiment in bi-national mutual mission. He was sort of flummoxed. "I sort of get the meaning of the words, but I've just never heard of it. Where's this happening?"</span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);">I explained to him that not only had it been happening on the U.S./ Mexico border, but it had been happening for 30 years, was an idea brought to the U.S. by the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico, and that the idea of mutual mission permeates all missiological discussions in the PCUSA now. He was quite affirming of the idea. He said, "We'll never see that idea in RC Inc."—His favorite phrase for his denomination.</span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);">Relationships in which partners treat each other as partners setting aside old paternalistic and power relationships is no easy matter. Yet, that is what PBM ventures to do.</span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);">I was asked once, "Do you think they are successful?" My response was that so far as we can be successful in relationships. If success is measured by struggles, then PBM is successful because it is always struggling with the meaning and the practice. Personnel changes lead to new concerns and a period of learning. As long as the disparity of wealth exists, the power of the purse is an issue, not just for those with the money but also for those without. It's hard navigating those seas.</span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);">One purpose of the book is to discover and articulate the struggles and issues as those who have been in the struggle tell about it.</span></p></div>
Fri, 08 Apr 2011 11:14:12 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/mutual-ministry.htmlWhat's in a Name?http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/whats-in-a-name.html
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104); font-size: 14px; "><em>Presbyterian Border Ministry is a bi-national mutual ministry of the PCUSA. Through intensive work, the churches of the U.S. and Mexico seek to overcome the historical power relations of north and south.</em></span></p>
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</div><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14px; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);"><br /></span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);">I worried over what to name the book. My first title was "A History of Presbyterian Border Ministry: 1984-2014". As I spoke with the editors at John Knox/Geneva, some of their suggestions made me reconsider. One of those suggested strong focus on missiology, something I had planned on doing. Then I started thinking about the title not reflecting what I wanted. I want the work to be more than a history, but to tell the experience of the folks who struggled and still struggle with doing mission mutually. It isn't easy.</span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);"><br /></span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);">I toyed with the present title and a few others: Presbyterians on the Border or Presbyterians on the Line. Which title gives the word play to express the meanings I was hoping for. In Mexico, the folks often refer to the border as 'la linea' as in the album by Lila Downs. And there are plenty of double entendres to go around with that, but most of our readers will not know this Mexican short hand for the border, la frontera. </span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);"><br /></span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);">The word 'border' is perhaps too literal to allow us to play with it. So I chose 'frontier' because it is a cognate, even if not correct, translation of the Spanish word for border. But it suggests a lot of things: Presbyterians on the frontier as in a place of exploration, as being groundbreakers, as being on the edge, and so on.</span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);"><br /></span></p><p style="font-variant: normal; text-align: left;" class="Body"><span style="font-size: 18px; background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Hoefler Text'; color: rgb(255, 219, 104);">Indeed, Presbyterian Border Ministry has been those things and more and those who have worked so diligently and faithful, Mexican and U.S., ave been pioneers often living on the edge. But this ministry into which the Mexican Presbyterians invited U.S. presbyterians has been on the front edge of developing an experience of mutual mission.</span></p>
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Fri, 08 Apr 2011 10:56:13 -0400http://www.presbyteriansonthefrontier.net/blog-notes-on-my-odyssey/whats-in-a-name.html